A collection of four chilling novels, ingeniously wrought gems of terror from the brilliantly imaginative number one
New York Times best-selling author of
The Fireman, Joe Hill.

5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely Brilliant Work.

By
Lew
on
11-08-17

Gwendy's Button Box

Includes Bonus Story "The Music Room"

By:
Stephen King,
Richard Chizmar

Narrated by:
Maggie Siff

Length: 2 hrs and 42 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,145

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,039

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,037

There are three ways up to Castle View from the town of Castle Rock: Route 117, Pleasant Road, and the Suicide Stairs. Every day in the summer of 1974, 12-year-old Gwendy Peterson has taken the stairs, which are held by strong (if time-rusted) iron bolts and zigzag up the cliffside. At the top of the stairs, Gwendy catches her breath and listens to the shouts of the kids on the playground. One day a stranger calls to Gwendy: "Hey, girl. Come on over here for a bit. We ought to palaver, you and me."

5 out of 5 stars

THE PEOPLE SEE A LEVER, THEY WANT TO PULL IT

By
Jim "The Impatient"
on
06-07-17

Sleeping Beauties

A Novel

By:
Stephen King,
Owen King

Narrated by:
Marin Ireland

Length: 25 hrs and 20 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
6,574

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
6,069

Story

4 out of 5 stars
6,036

In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep: They become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep they go to another place.... The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease.

3 out of 5 stars

meh

By
Rebecca
on
10-29-17

Insomnia

By:
Stephen King

Narrated by:
Eli Wallach

Length: 25 hrs and 38 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
1,564

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
1,435

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,426

Since his wife died, Ralph Roberts has been having trouble sleeping. Each night he wakes up a bit earlier until he's barely sleeping at all. During his late-night walks, he observes some strange things going on in Derry, Maine. He sees colored ribbons streaming from people's heads, two strange little men wandering around town after dark, and more. He begins to suspect that these visions are something more than hallucinations brought on by lack of sleep.

The master at his scarifying best! From heart-pounding terror to the eeriest of whimsy - tales from the outer limits of one of the greatest imaginations of our time! Trucks that punish and beautiful teen demons who seduce a young man to massacre; curses whose malevolence grows through the years; obscene presences and angels of grace - here, indeed, is a night-blooming bouquet of chills and thrills.

4 out of 5 stars

Not Bazaar, but still The King

By
Jim "The Impatient"
on
07-16-16

Haunted Nights

A Horror Writers Association Anthology

By:
Pat Cadigan,
Garth Nix,
John R. Little,
and others

Narrated by:
Hillary Huber,
Amy Landon,
Keith Szarabajka,
and others

Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
38

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
33

Story

4 out of 5 stars
33

Here are 16 chilling, never-before-published tales that explore every aspect of our darkest holiday, Halloween, coedited by Ellen Datlow, one of the most successful and respected genre editors, and Lisa Morton, a leading authority on Halloween. Included are stories about scheming jack-o'-lanterns, vengeful ghosts, otherworldly changelings, disturbingly realistic haunted attractions, masks that cover terrifying faces, murderous urban legends, parties gone bad, cult Halloween movies, and trick-or-treating in the future.

5 out of 5 stars

Haunted Nights

By
Adam
on
11-30-17

Strange Weather

Four Novellas

By:
Joe Hill

Narrated by:
Joe Hill,
Wil Wheaton,
Kate Mulgrew,
and others

Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,305

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,214

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,209

A collection of four chilling novels, ingeniously wrought gems of terror from the brilliantly imaginative number one
New York Times best-selling author of
The Fireman, Joe Hill.

5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely Brilliant Work.

By
Lew
on
11-08-17

Gwendy's Button Box

Includes Bonus Story "The Music Room"

By:
Stephen King,
Richard Chizmar

Narrated by:
Maggie Siff

Length: 2 hrs and 42 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,145

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,039

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,037

There are three ways up to Castle View from the town of Castle Rock: Route 117, Pleasant Road, and the Suicide Stairs. Every day in the summer of 1974, 12-year-old Gwendy Peterson has taken the stairs, which are held by strong (if time-rusted) iron bolts and zigzag up the cliffside. At the top of the stairs, Gwendy catches her breath and listens to the shouts of the kids on the playground. One day a stranger calls to Gwendy: "Hey, girl. Come on over here for a bit. We ought to palaver, you and me."

5 out of 5 stars

THE PEOPLE SEE A LEVER, THEY WANT TO PULL IT

By
Jim "The Impatient"
on
06-07-17

Sleeping Beauties

A Novel

By:
Stephen King,
Owen King

Narrated by:
Marin Ireland

Length: 25 hrs and 20 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
6,574

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
6,069

Story

4 out of 5 stars
6,036

In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep: They become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep they go to another place.... The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease.

3 out of 5 stars

meh

By
Rebecca
on
10-29-17

Insomnia

By:
Stephen King

Narrated by:
Eli Wallach

Length: 25 hrs and 38 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
1,564

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
1,435

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,426

Since his wife died, Ralph Roberts has been having trouble sleeping. Each night he wakes up a bit earlier until he's barely sleeping at all. During his late-night walks, he observes some strange things going on in Derry, Maine. He sees colored ribbons streaming from people's heads, two strange little men wandering around town after dark, and more. He begins to suspect that these visions are something more than hallucinations brought on by lack of sleep.

The master at his scarifying best! From heart-pounding terror to the eeriest of whimsy - tales from the outer limits of one of the greatest imaginations of our time! Trucks that punish and beautiful teen demons who seduce a young man to massacre; curses whose malevolence grows through the years; obscene presences and angels of grace - here, indeed, is a night-blooming bouquet of chills and thrills.

4 out of 5 stars

Not Bazaar, but still The King

By
Jim "The Impatient"
on
07-16-16

Haunted Nights

A Horror Writers Association Anthology

By:
Pat Cadigan,
Garth Nix,
John R. Little,
and others

Narrated by:
Hillary Huber,
Amy Landon,
Keith Szarabajka,
and others

Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
38

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
33

Story

4 out of 5 stars
33

Here are 16 chilling, never-before-published tales that explore every aspect of our darkest holiday, Halloween, coedited by Ellen Datlow, one of the most successful and respected genre editors, and Lisa Morton, a leading authority on Halloween. Included are stories about scheming jack-o'-lanterns, vengeful ghosts, otherworldly changelings, disturbingly realistic haunted attractions, masks that cover terrifying faces, murderous urban legends, parties gone bad, cult Halloween movies, and trick-or-treating in the future.

With tales from Laird Barron, Stephen King, John Langan, Peter Straub, and many others, and featuring Datlow’s comprehensive overview of the year in horror, now, more than ever, The Best Horror of the Year provides the petrifying horror fiction readers have come to expect - and enjoy.

1 out of 5 stars

Only a few decent stories in this bunch.

By
Jerry
on
12-06-14

Ghost Story

By:
Peter Straub

Narrated by:
Buck Schirner

Length: 22 hrs and 34 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
932

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
846

Story

4 out of 5 stars
845

For four aging men in the terror-stricken town of Milburn, New York, an act inadvertently carried out in their youth has come back to haunt them. Now they are about to learn what happens to those who believe they can bury the past - and get away with murder. Peter Straub's classic best seller is a work of "superb horror" (
Washington Post Book World) that, like any good ghost story, stands the test of time - and conjures our darkest fears and nightmares.

4 out of 5 stars

Great Story! The Best of Peter Straub

By
Jaimie
on
07-17-12

Salem's Lot

By:
Stephen King

Narrated by:
Ron McLarty,
Stephen King

Length: 17 hrs and 35 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
7,157

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
6,509

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
6,498

Ben Mears has returned to Jerusalem's Lot in the hopes that living in an old mansion, long the subject of town lore, will help him cast out his own devils and provide inspiration for his new book. But when two young boys venture into the woods and only one comes out alive Mears begins to realize that there may be something sinister at work and that his hometown is under siege by forces of darkness far beyond his control.

5 out of 5 stars

A Great Performance of an Excellent Story

By
Tami
on
10-02-12

The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Nine

By:
Ellen Datlow - editor

Narrated by:
Christina Delaine,
James Anderson Foster

Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
61

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
58

Story

4 out of 5 stars
59

For more than three decades, Ellen Datlow has been at the center of horror. Bringing you the most frightening and terrifying stories, Datlow always has her finger on the pulse of what horror fans crave. Now, with the ninth volume of the series, Datlow is back again to bring you the stories that will keep you up at night.

4 out of 5 stars

Great Collection!

By
Ronald E. Vigeant
on
07-29-17

20th Century Ghosts

By:
Joe Hill

Narrated by:
David LeDoux

Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
809

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
572

Story

4 out of 5 stars
575

Imogene is young and beautiful. She kisses like a movie star and knows everything about every film ever made. She's also dead and waiting in the Rosebud Theater for Alec Sheldon on an afternoon in 1945...Arthur Roth is a lonely kid with big ideas and a gift for attracting abuse. It isn't easy to make friends when you're the only inflatable boy in town.

4 out of 5 stars

Wonderful and recommended

By
Kasey
on
02-12-09

Doctor Sleep

A Novel

By:
Stephen King

Narrated by:
Will Patton

Length: 18 hrs and 35 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
15,761

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
14,447

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
14,446

Stephen King returns to the characters and territory of one of his most popular novels ever,
The Shining, in this instantly riveting novel about the now middle-aged Dan Torrance (the boy protagonist of
The Shining) and the very special 12-year-old girl he must save from a tribe of murderous paranormals. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of hyper-devoted fans of
The Shining and wildly satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.

5 out of 5 stars

The sequel to the book; not the movie

By
D
on
09-28-13

The Dark Half

By:
Stephen King

Narrated by:
Grover Gardner

Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
613

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
561

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
561

Thad Beaumont would like to say he is innocent. He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the twisted imagination that produced his best-selling novels. He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the series of monstrous murders that keep coming closer to his home. But how can Thad deny the ultimate embodiment of evil that goes by the name he gave it - and signs its crimes with Thad's bloody fingerprints?

5 out of 5 stars

Sparrows

By
Amazon Customer
on
08-22-16

The Doll Collection

By:
Ellen Datlow - editor

Narrated by:
Bernadette Dunne

Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins

Unabridged

Overall

3.5 out of 5 stars
41

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
39

Story

3.5 out of 5 stars
39

The Doll Collection is exactly what it sounds like: a treasured toy box of all-original dark stories about dolls of all types, including everything from puppets and poppets to mannequins and baby dolls. Featuring everything from life-sized clockwork dolls to all-too-human Betsy Wetsy-type baby dolls, these stories play into the true creepiness of the doll trope but avoid the clichés that often show up in stories of this type.

5 out of 5 stars

Best Narration Ever

By
Astarte38
on
10-03-15

Houses Without Doors

By:
Peter Straub

Narrated by:
Patrick Lawlor

Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins

Unabridged

Overall

3.5 out of 5 stars
15

Performance

3.5 out of 5 stars
13

Story

3 out of 5 stars
13

These psychic and horror fictions - seven of them short-shorts - reveals Straub at his spellbinding best. Two tales (first installments of his Blue Rose trilogy), are linked to Koko and Mystery and exactingly probe the consequences of boyhood clashes with evil. Includes: "Blue Rose", "The Juniper Tree", "The Buffalo Hunter", "Mrs. God", and "A Short Guide to the City".

1 out of 5 stars

Do NOT waste your money

By
Stephanie
on
10-26-13

The Gods of H. P. Lovecraft

By:
Rachel Caine,
Seanan McGuire,
Laird Barron,
and others

Narrated by:
David Stifel,
uncredited

Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
288

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
261

Story

4 out of 5 stars
259

The Gods of H.P. Lovecraft: a brand new anthology that collects the 12 principal deities of the Lovecraftian Mythos and sets them loose. Featuring the biggest names in horror and dark fantasy, including many
New York Times best sellers; full of original fiction; and individual commentary on each of the deities by Donald Tyson.

5 out of 5 stars

Starts of slow but very good

By
KL
on
02-12-17

Mr. Mercedes

A Novel

By:
Stephen King

Narrated by:
Will Patton

Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
24,724

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
22,602

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
22,584

In the frigid pre-dawn hours, in a distressed Midwestern city, hundreds of desperate unemployed folks are lined up for a spot at a job fair. Without warning, a lone driver plows through the crowd in a stolen Mercedes, running over the innocent, backing up, and charging again. Eight people are killed; fifteen are wounded. The killer escapes.
Mr. Mercedes is a war between good and evil, from the master of suspense whose insight into the mind of this obsessed, insane killer is chilling and unforgettable.

5 out of 5 stars

IT'S ALL AS LEGAL AS LOTTERY TICKETS

By
Jim "The Impatient"
on
07-06-16

Magic Terror

By:
Peter Straub

Narrated by:
Ron McLarty,
Beth MacDonald

Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins

Unabridged

Overall

3 out of 5 stars
117

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
26

Story

3.5 out of 5 stars
26

With
Magic Terror Peter Straub, best selling author of
The Talisman (with Stephen King), has written one of the most imaginatively unsettling collections in years. The terrain of these extraordinary stories is marked by brutality, heartbreak, despair, wonder, and an unexpected humor that allows empathy to blossom within the most unlikely contexts.

Had to re-listen twice

By
Amazon Customer
on
04-09-07

Publisher's Summary

From the incomparable master of horror and suspense comes an electrifying collection of contemporary literary horror, with stories from 25 writers representing today's most talented voices in the genre.

Horror writing is usually associated with formulaic gore, but New Wave horror writers have more in common with the wildly inventive, evocative spookiness of Edgar Allan Poe than with the sometimes predictable hallmarks of their peers. Showcasing this cutting-edge talent, Poe's Children now brings the best of the genre's stories to a wider audience. Featuring tales from such writers as Neil Gaiman and Jonathan Carroll, Poe's Children is Peter Straub's tribute to the imaginative power of storytelling. Each previously published story has been selected by Straub to represent what he thinks is the most interesting development in our literature during the last two decades.

Selections range from the early Stephen King psychological thriller "The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet," in which an editor confronts an author's belief that his typewriter is inhabited by supernatural creatures, to "The Man on the Ceiling," Melanie and Steve Rasnic Tem's award-winning surreal tale of night terrors, woven with daylight fears that haunt a family. Other selections include National Book Award finalist Dan Chaon's "The Bees"; Peter Straub's "Little Red's Tango," the legend of a music aficionado whose past is as mysterious as the ghostly visitors to his Manhattan apartment; Elizabeth Hand's visionary and shocking "Cleopatra Brimstone"; Thomas Ligotti's brilliant, mind-stretching "Notes on the Writing of Horror: A Story"; and "Body," Brian Evenson's disturbing twist on correctional facilities.

Crossing boundaries and packed with imaginative chills, Poe's Children bears all the telltale signs of fearless, addictive fiction.

STOP! READ REVIEWS 1ST!!!

Stories that made sense and were actually scary instead of just tedious and weird

Has Poe's Children turned you off from other books in this genre?

NO

Would you be willing to try another one of Various’s performances?

YES

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Poe's Children?

Every story after the 1st. I felt like it was bait and switch

Any additional comments?

I will be returning this book. I tried several times to get into it. Skipped ahead and listened to several stories over a period a several weeks. I'm sorry to it was more of the same boring, weird stories that made absolutely no sense. If I could choose a (-) star to rate this I would

Couldn't Get Through It

Of all the stories I heard, the first one was the best. I didn't think it was great but it was decent and mildly unsettling. I listened to two more afterwards and both seemed endless and went nowhere. It was one of the rare times I desperately wished to be able to flip ahead and see how many more pages there were left to go. They weren't horror stories so much as bizarrely conceived expositions on the horror that is a part of us all and can take many forms and blah blah blah.. I hated it, but I also didn't finish it. Maybe some works of genius were hiding towards the end.

terrible

with boring, muddled stories full of vague abstract ideas that spark neither the readers interests nor imagination, this book was a complete wast of time. dry, dull and "new age kitschy" themes and story lines left this horror buff annoyed and frustrated. give this a miss!

Only thing interesting was the title.

I had a feeling I was in trouble when the introduction was a contrast to the cover art. There were two interesting short stories but I was expecting a creepy Poe like vibe, and was greatly let down. Overall the only reason I kept listening to it was because it cost me two credits. It is not worth it.

Hit and Miss

While all stories were competently performed and a few were genuinely stellar and engaging tales, there are definite duds in the collection. The stories tend toward the overly-cerebral, and a fan of deep genre fiction would likely find a more satisfying collection elsewhere.

Not what I expected :-(

The stories were just plain boring.Not one stands out in my memory,should I name one?I can't!

Has Poe's Children turned you off from other books in this genre?

No,I love horror stories,both as a novel and in short form.These were just not able to keep me interested.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator was alright.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointmentand and boredom must cover it pretty Well.

Any additional comments?

Anthologies are usually a hit or miss situation,but sometimes you can find some real gems hidden inbetween. This; I really had high hopes for,since I'm a big fan of Peter Straub. But this maybe just shows, that even though I enjoy his writing,I do not necessarily enjoy the same books as him.

Waste of credit: I should have read reviews first

What would have made Poe's Children better?

Less pretense and ego. The title of the book should have given me pause. Any collection of contemporary authors willing to contribute to a collection that compares them to a master of their genre are probably laboring under a misguided since of their own self worth. The tone of the book is that of literary snobbery without the merit of good stories to backup it up.

What was most disappointing about Peter Straub’s story?

Another thing that should be pointed, out is that this is not a collection of horror stories. The stories are often abstract and bizarre at best. I bought it in the horror section and that's what I wanted.

How could the performance have been better?

I don't think the narrator(s) is to blame for my disliking this story. The narrator(s) only job is to convey the content for the author. While a good reader is important, they have to work with what they've got. Most of the stories in this collection lack cohesion and are infuriatingly cryptic for no reason I can gleam.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Finding something redeeming about collection will take more time than I've got today...

Any additional comments?

I see other readers share my disappointment. I will pay closer attention to the reviews during future purchases.